Thursday, June 29, 2023

The Case of the Dormant $100,000

 The dustup between U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, and Water Manager Ted Henifin settled down after a hearing in federal court last week.  

The inability to take action on almost everything is an old story in Jackson government.  ABC News reported in February that United Healthcare donated $100,000 to 

Through a request filed under the Mississippi Public Records Act, ABC News has learned that the Central Mississippi Growth Foundation received $102,879.61 in "water crisis donations" between August and November 2022.

Although contributions came from churches and individuals, the vast majority of the funds came from UnitedHealth Group, the country's largest health insurance corporation and the firm listed by the City of Jackson's as its health insurance contractor for municipal employees.

"During the Mississippi water crisis in October 2022, we donated $99,000 to the Central Mississippi Growth Foundation to provide water filters to members of the community in need," said a statement provided to ABC News by UnitedHealth Group spokesperson Christina Witz. Article.

The filters might have served a purpose when Jackson lost water service during the Christmas holiday but for some reason, the city chose not to purchase the water filters.  

ABC News reporting the failure to spend the money in February yet the Lumumba administration continued to sit on the funds.  The Mayor finally decided to purchase the filters and held a June 14 press conference to strut his stuff.   Of course, it was the press conference that created last week's hearing but who's keeping score at this point? 

Now you know the Rest of the story. 

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

All a slush fund to be trotted out to support Lumumba's ongoing puffery campaigns.

Anonymous said...

If in fact Ted is in charge of the water dept. why does the mayor keep sticking his $0.02 in the mix. Either Ted is in charge or he is not, what about that Judge?

Anonymous said...

Incompetence squared

Anonymous said...

They couldn't just say thank you to UHC and buy some filters from anyone. Nooooo, they most likely had to find one of their own to purchase some filters through. I would love to see the cost of and number of filters actually purchased and distributed. $100k isn't a lot of filters in the grand scheme of things.

Anonymous said...

FUBAR

Anonymous said...

Last week southern District Federal Judge Henry Wingate held a “status hearing” in his courtroom on the Jackson water situation.

I sat through the three and a half hour hearing and learned a lot. One of the things I learned is that Judge Wingate is clearly calling the shots and Mayor Lumumba is not.


Wyatt Emmerich
June 27, 2023

Corporal Upham said...

I can’t find FUBAR in the German dictionary…

Not A Bad Gig If You Can Get It... said...

History reveals many shysters in many countries who have absconded with billions of dollars.

If you were to drop Saddam Hussein, Idy Amin and the Shah of Iran in a paper bag, dump in four large scoops of self-rising flour, shake vigorously and lay it all carefully in an iron skillet filled with 400-degree oil for 13 minutes, then dip it out with a slotted spoon....what you would be laying out on paper towels would be the mayor of Jackson.

Anonymous said...

For the life of me I don't know why any news out of the city of Jackson is news. All of this is normal this is how they operate and run things. If they picked up trash for a month according to schedule or went a month without a water or sewer issue that would be BREAKING NEWS!

Anonymous said...

So much municipal authority has been removed (and shortly more) from Lumumba's control at this point he is little more than Jackson's half-Mayor.

Anonymous said...

Is it any surprise that the Mayor had this 100k back in October but that it took him 8 months to finally spend it on something useful (assuming the filters are even needed now which Wingate and Henefin say they're not) ? And this is despite the fact that the Mayor said this was an emergency and desperately needed. The man is an incompetent buffoon who knows nothing about true leadership.

Anonymous said...

Jeff Good is the Chairman of the Board of the non-profit according to their last 990 filing. I hope he got a few filters for his establishments.

Anonymous said...

Now we find out the $100K Lumumba used to buy water filters was actually donated 9 months ago during a drinking water crisis.

That's pitiful. It makes me who the vendor was who sold the filters. He just can't do anything without a dirty motive.

Anonymous said...

How much of that $100k was Chowke's commission?

Anonymous said...

Since the mayor has less actual responsibilities is his pay going to be cut?

Anonymous said...

So now, a fire hydrant in Stokes' district doesn't work, and some want to blame Henifin who is in charge of all of Jackson's water.

Yes, the damn hydrant doesn't work -- I assume that is true. But it isn't Henifin's fault, the damn thing probably hasn'tworked for years, under the leadershipt of Lumumba and to some degree the oversight by Councilman Stokes who thinks that he can bitch about everything and take responsibility for nothing.
tHenifin cant be expected to fix all things - every thing - treatment plants that don't have proper staffing and haven't been maintained, all leaks those that lose 5 million gallons per day (for multiple years) or the hundreds that have been leaking and destroying pavement for just a few years) -- whatever. Valves that were not open. Supply that was not supplied.

I'm not here to defend the socialist Henifin - he want to implement a socialist/marxist plan that he and his budddies have tried to put into operation in multiple juridictions for years and have not been able to implement. And I trust he will not be able to do so here.

But forgetting his socialistic views - that water doen't cost (until he quotes the costs of the loss of 5MGD of the 36" line at colonial circle) he has been charged with the entire water system of Jackson.. Hundreds, or more, of fire hydrants; valves cut off years ago and never been reopened; no history; no hydrolic reporrs; nothing on recored about what has been done and hsn't. Total falure by the city of ackson who was responsible for operating the system for the past several years. Brought into the system while it was in absiilute failure ---- except for the intervention of GovernorTate Reeves and his takeover of the operations of the water treatment plants and distrubion of water due to the failure of Lumumba to meet the requirements following his previous failure .

Point being -- Tate Reeves oeicusws the beeded "temporary fix" last summer following Lumbumba's filure. Then when the fedrral courts stepped in, Henifin stepped in to provide some reaponsible management to the operation and brought in people and equipemnt that Lumbumba failed to do for years to make sure ths system would work.

Now - there is a fire hydrant that was not operative. Question:: Out of how many? Who's fault was it that it wasn't operative at this point? (Answer -- Lumumba, not Henifin).


Henifin - as I've said, not someone that I am totally behind. But --- he is at least someone in charge that is trying to do things positive, rather than ignore everything. Rome wasn't built in a day - and Henifin cna't resolve all of Lumumba's failures in a few months.

Anonymous said...

Suppose the mair, who held this money for 9 months, thought its existence would simply be forgotten and redirecting the money to a secret account would go unnoticed.

That would be speculative and impossible, right.

Retired fireman said...

That inoperative hydrant, grossly overgrown with weeds, is the poster child of third world Jackistan.

Note: Calling them "fire hydrants" is the same as calling a water heater a "hot water heater." They are hydrants, and provide water for multiple tasks.

I might as well throw in that they are "concrete trucks," not "cement" trucks.

Anonymous said...

12:06 that would be the fire department’s fault. They are suppose to flow and maintain the hydrants twice a year. Typically you flow it for gpm and static pressure one time and come back 6 months later flow it and grease it.

Anonymous said...

I live in NE Jackson but my office is on Jackson street in ridgeland. I can tell you the city of ridgeland isn’t perfect by any means… however, they’re far more competent than Lumumba. I laught when local leaders use his press conferences as a standup comedy platform. It’s even better knowing that Chokwe actually believes that people listen to him

Anonymous said...

12:06 - as far as the water infrastructure, you'd think that by now Henifin would at least know where to look, and should be directing repairs based on highest priority.

Anonymous said...

If anyone has practiced in federal court or been a party to federal litigation, they’d know that spinning around in your chair, laughing, smirking, mumbling in disagreement, or muttering to one’s self during the Court’s questioning is generally not a good idea, especially if the judge is as seasoned as Judge Wingate. Chokwe and his “wanna-be Tom Fortner” attorney don’t understand that just yet…however, if they had been paying attention they’d have noticed Judge Wingate was none too pleased.. But who am I kidding, when has Chokwe and his ilk ever shown respect for anything other than themselves?



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